Christine E. Bose Wages for Housework Research Collection

Dr. Christine E. Bose is currently Professor Emerita of Sociology, University of Albany, SUNY and an Affiliate faculty member in the Departments of Gender, Women and Sexuality Studies and of Sociology at the University of Washington (since 2015). She received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Wagner College (1969) and a Doctor of Philosophy in Sociology from the Johns Hopkins University (1973) where she specialized in gender and work, and later incorporated interests in global gender inequalities and the intersections of race, class, and gender. Part of her doctoral dissertation and early publications addressed the social status of the housewife which connected to her involvement with social feminist movements in the 1970s and 1980s, and the Wages for Housework campaign (WFH), both of which shared a positive perspective on the productive aspects of housework. While in Seattle, she worked to spread knowledge about the WFH movement using links to the Los Angeles branch.

Professor Bose began her academic career at the University of Washington (1973) and later moved to the University at Albany SUNY (1978) to become their first externally hired director of Women’s Studies (1978-81). During her tenure at the University at Albany, Bose moved through the ranks from Assistant to Associate to Full Professor of Sociology with joint appointments in the Department of Latin American, Caribbean, and US Latino Studies and Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. She also served again as Chair of the Department of Women’s Studies (2004-2007), was a founding member of the campus Initiatives for Women scholarship project, and the Founding Director of the Institute for Research on Women (IROW). With Professor Edna Acosta-Belén, IROW garnered several large Ford Foundation grants that funded projects including, among others, “Integrating Puerto Rican Women into the Curriculum,” “Gender Studies in Global Perspective,” and “The Globalization of Gender Research: A Feminist Dialogue.” Professor Bose has authored two books (Jobs and Gender: A Study of Occupational Prestige (1985) and Women in 1900 (2001)) and co-edited six additional volumes including Ingredients for Women’s Employment Policy (1987), Hidden Aspects of Women’s Work (1987), Researching Women in Latin America and the Caribbean (1993), Women in the Latin American Development Process (1995), Global Dimensions of Gender and Carework (1996), and Global Gender Research (2009).

She has been involved with a number of professional organizations, in many of which she has held elected leadership positions. Her professional memberships have included the American Sociological Association (Chair, Publications Committee, 2005-2007), the Eastern Sociological Society (President, 2011), Sociologists for Women in Society (President, 2006), the National Women's Studies Association (founding member), and United University Professions. She also served as Editor of the journal Gender and Society from 1999-2003.

Christine E. Bose’s contributions to Sociology, Women’s studies, and Universities have been widely recognized by her elected positions. Her honors include selection as a Fulbright Senior Scholar (Costa Rica, 2008); being the Sociologists for Women in Society 2014 Distinguished Feminist Lecturer; becoming a University at Albany (UA) Collins Fellow; receiving a UA Bread and Roses Award and a UA Award for Excellence in Academic Service; receiving a United University Professions Excellence Award and the Albany YWCA Tribute to Women Annual Award.